You’re Nuts: Which player had the best performance in Ohio State’s “This is Team 123” video?

We are officially in countdown mode for the start of the college basketball season. The Ohio State men’s team plays their first exhibition match on Monday against Indianapolis and their first actual game of the season against Akron on Tuesday, Nov. 9.

For those counting at home, we are just three days away from the exhibition and 11 days away from the Akron game.

Goose. Bumps.

I know that it is football season and the Penn State game is tomorrow and a lot of fans won’t take notice of men’s basketball until January, but for the real ones that have Nov. 9 circled on the calendar and realize that consuming both teams is the best of both worlds, we here at Land-Grant Holy Land have you covered.

Once the season starts, these “You’re Nuts” articles will be much more specific to the season and what is going on, but in the offseason, we can have a bit more fun with it.

Last week, we predicted our Final Four and no, we wont be going back over this in March... unless we are right, of course.

Justin’s team of Gonzaga, Kansas, Michigan and Texas garnered 68% of the vote while Connor’s team of Texas Tech, UCLA, Purdue and Kansas received 32% of the vote. Don’t look now, but Justin is on a two-week winning streak. Do you smell a comeback? Who knows?

Let’s see if he can go for the threepeat. Let’s take a look at the standings and the hill that Justin still has to climb.

After 25 weeks:

Connor- 13
Justin- 8
Other- 3

(There has been one tie)

So, that being said, did you see the video @OhioStateHoops put on Twitter last night? If you didn’t, do not fear, we have you covered.

These videos have no downside. They are fun for the fans, keep it loose for the players, and show a side to the team that fans don’t normally see. Fun is good, who would have thought?

Today’s Question: Which player had the best performance in Ohio State’s “This is Team 123” video?

Connor: “Chef” Meechie Johnson

I absolutely adore this video. It really shows how close some of the members of this team have already grown, as well as their great relationship with Chris Holtmann. This Ohio State team is full of really likable characters, and if you haven’t been introduced to them all yet, this video was great for that.

All parties involved did a great job with this little “This is SportsCenter” remake, but I think the star of the video was second-year guard Meechie Johnson, who plays the head chef in the very beginning of the video.

Malaki Branham rushes into the kitchen, demanding to know, “If the team meal is ready yet.” Johnson glances down at his chicken breasts — which have some beautiful grill marks — and then yells back at Branham, “You can’t rush perfection!” which is very true.

Great things take time, whether that’s the development of a young guard like Johnson, or grilling chicken for yourself and 14 of your closest friends. Johnson is anything but shy — he showed us that last year on the court — and I think the Ohio State creative team made the right choice giving him this line in the video.

With the fantastic response the video is getting, I would not be shocked if the team makes one or two more of these during or after the season. Maybe Johnson will reprise his role as head chef, or maybe they’ll promote Kalen Etzler from sous chef to head chef!

Johnson is poised to play some major minutes for the Buckeyes this season following the departures of C.J. Walker and Duane Washington Jr. With Jamari Wheeler set to take over point guard duties, Johnson will likely spend some time at the other guard spot, but will also likely run the point when Wheeler is not in the game. Regardless, the uber-athletic second-year guard will play quite a bit more than the six minutes per game he played last season.

Justin: Jimmy Sotos (AKA TikTok King)

I think there is a clear winner and stand out in this video and it is guard Jimmy Sotos. Sotos is the clear dancer of the group and was holding his own with the talented Ohio State dance team. My apologies for no picture, to be honest I could not figure out how to take a screenshot on my computer. So we move on.

Sotos is only on screen for about four seconds, but he makes the most of his time and shows off his best TikTok dancing skills. For those who don’t know, Sotos has amassed a huge following on the popular social media app, with almost 840,000 followers and his biggest video at publishing time has over 9.5 million views.

I feel like it is somewhat of a metaphor for his role on the team. Since Sotos got to Ohio State after transferring from Bucknell, he has been active on social media and posting videos on TikTok, dancing with teammates and during media days. It is a way to keep things loose when it can be a stressful lifestyle for student athletes and it has clearly had positive effects on the team.

Plus, he can dance. Can’t hate on that.